The Nigerian Government has banned the importation of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards into the country.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami disclosed this at Oniru, Lagos State,South West, Nigeria.
He spoke at the Nigerian Telecommunication Indigenous Content Expo (NTICE) organised by the Nigerian Office for Developing Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Pantami said that Nigeria, as the most populous nation in Africa should not be importing goods that could be made domestically.
“Let me make it clear that the federal government will no longer tolerate the importation of sim cards. We are now producing them in Nigeria.Our aim is to increase indigenous content in the ICT sector so that by 2025, we will be self-reliant by at least 80 percent”, the minister noted.
The Minister urged stakeholders and citizens to support government initiatives to increase local patronage and consumption.
“If we do this, history will be kind to all of us”, he said.
It would be recalled that Pantami had announced in June, that a SIM card manufacturing facility had been established in Lagos by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
The plant, which was constructed with support from the private sector, has the capacity to produce 200 million cards per year, and export to other African countries.
Hauwa Abu
